The Testosterone Files: My Hormonal and Social Transformation from Female to Male

I barely made it through the prologue of this book because of the writing style. The author is a poet and it really shows in that section. Unfortunately I'm not too keen on poetry and, while slogging through it, kept mumbling Mark Twain's Rule 14: Eschew Surplusage! Nevertheless, this book is a fascinating read, and well worth pursuing to the end. Valerio throws amazing revelation after amazing revelation (ok, a little surplusage of my own) at you. I was surprised, for instance, that there are so many things about the effects of testosterone on men that I never knew or suspected. Valerio does an excellent job sharing his experience, providing insight into the (to me) mysterious feeling that one has been born into a body that does not fit his sexual identity. Our society would benefit from a greater understanding of LGBT issues, and this book is well-suited to that purpose. Read it and pass it on.

Max Wolf Valerio has a terrific way of providing knowledge and insight into the world of a FTM. Great read. You can even jump from chapter to chapter out of sequence for the information you need and not get lost in this book. The Author has been in many documentaries as well, including the film "Gendernauts". If you want information about being Ftm this is the book for you. Also A great read for anyone that wants to see inside the wonderful world of an amazing transition. It doesn't get much better than this. Don't let this one get away. Get this book and "Becoming Alec" written by Darwin S. Ward together and you have the foundation of the best works on FTM available to date. You'll be glad you did.

Reading this book was a little like eating candy, in that I wanted to gobble it up all at once and at the same time, read it slowly, savoring every word. The gobble won, and it was gone all too soon. Firstly, I want to echo all of what Pen Name said about it. Yes, that review was all true and right on. Secondly, I want to add that as a transman, it was very validating and perhaps normalizing to have so much of what I've experienced in transition described with a depth and accuracy that's been missing when I talk with other transmen about it. When i asked my partner to read the book and give me her take on it, she complained that she'd already watched me go through transition and there was nothing new to be gleaned. Nevertheless, she started paging through it, wound up reading the whole thng and concluded by saying it helped her understand me better and also, better understand the essentail differences between men and women.

As a child I was told that God never makes mistakes. Tampering with His work is a terrible sin. Max Wolf Valerio is a terrible, talented sinner. What I liked most about his book, The Testosterone Files, is the thread of poetic nuance that wafts through his prose like the smell of sulphur accompanying a matchstrike. This transexual can write! Max was a rebel long before he became a man. His gender change seems to me a natural expression of his punk asthetic. Only now the spikes are turned inward. One cc of testosterone injected every two weeks is a potent safety pin. Lyrics from such artists as Iggy Pop and the Feederz punctuate his transition. No Chris and Tret here. Max is intelligent, perceptive and handsome. Although I enjoyed his book throughly, I was more than a little wistful seeing the pre-transition photo of his former self as Anita - a gorgeous Native-American chick with asian eyes, a delicate, narrow face, and pretty lips. This is a woman I could rob banks with. But Max sent her packing and stands in her place unblinking, with a gun in his pants. After finishing this book I think either God indeed makes mistakes or, God is a punk too. My hope for humanity is that the printed word will continue to be this dangerous.

Unlike most authors of transsexual books out there, Max can actually write, and the book is worth reading even if you have no interest in transsexuality. There is no self-pity or whining in this book. The author is honest about the difficulties of being a transsexual, but he's matter of fact about it (when he's not being funny). He describes his experience is the same way he talks about his punk rock life and weird friends. It's an adventure: scary, thrilling, perplexing, and risky but ultimately worth it. What I found most interesting about this book was its portrayal of the profound differences between the way men and women think, act, and feel. Max is an intelligent, sensitive, and self-aware person who has had the opportunity to experience life as both a woman and as a man. As far as I know, there are no other memoirs out there that describe this experience and it's eye-opening to read Max's firsthand account of how his sex drive, feelings, and even sense of smell are affected by testosterone. For every woman who has ever suspected that men and women are REALLY different, this memoir is a compelling account of what those differences feel like.